Meat-cutter



(No Model.)

A. SHEPARD. MEAT CUTTER.

"No. 399,790. Patented Mar. 19, 1889.

N ETERS. Phomtnno hor, Washinglun, n. c.

ihvirnn STATES AHOS SHEPARD, OF PLANTSVILL I,

ASSTGNOR TO THE PECK, STOlV AND \VILC( X COMPANY, OF SOY'JIIINGTON,CONNEUFICU'I.

MEAT-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,790, dated March19, 1889.

application filed August 1, 1883.

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, AMOS SHEPARD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Plantsville, in the county of Ilartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMeat-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in meat-cutters of the class whichhave a case and a rotatory device provided, respectively, withstationary and moving fOl'Clllg-llbS, a perforated plate and knives incontact with said plate, an example of which classis found in the patentto Calvin Adams, No. 32,852, of July 23, 1861, my present inventionbeing in the nature of an improvement upon the machine of said Adamspatent.

The objects of my improvement are to provide for a better constructionof the parts, and to increase their efficiency.

In the accompanyingdrawings, Figure l is a plan view of my machine withthe crank? hub and portion of the shaft in horizontalsee tion. Fig. 2 isan elevation looking at the discharge end of the machine. Fig. 3 is alike view with the shaft and its appendages removed. Fig. 4 is aperspective view of the shaft, the moving forcing-ribs, and theperforated plate. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of-the case on line0041: of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the detachable ring, whichconstitutes a part of the casev Fig. '7 is an edge view of the same.Fig. 8 is an elevation of half of the detachable ring with a differentform of knives, and Fig. I is an edge view of a portion of said ring.

A designates the case, provided with a hopper, B, and with a cylindricalflange, a, at its discharge end. The interior of the case is providedwith stationary forcing-ribs I) and with knives c for contact with theinner face of the perforated plate. The grooves or spaces between theribs 1) of the case are gradually increased in. effective area towardthe discharge end to form chambers, into which the meat is forced on itspassage to the perforated plate- In order that the knives 0 may be setwithin the cylindrical flange a with the flange projecting beyond saidknives, and also to enable the knives to be ground to a plane Serial No.281,664. (No model.)

ground to a proper level when the ring isremoved, and thereby insure aproper contact of the knives with the inner face of the perforatedplate. I provide said ring C with a steady-pin, (I, Fig. 7, which entersa hole in the case, so that when the ring is in place, as shown in Figs.3 and 5, the stationary ribs 1) and the spaces or grooves between themare continuous. I prefer to form the acting-face of the stationaryforcing-ribs bthat is, the face toward which the moving ribs ad vance ona spiral of rather gradual inclination; but the inclination may begreater or the face of said ribs may be longitudinal-that is, parallelto the axis of the case.

D designates the shaft or rotatory device, having a small journal at oneend which takes its bearing in the small end of the case, the projectingend of the shaft being provided with a crank or driving device, E. Isecure said crank in place by means of a thumb-screw,f, Fig. 1, theshoulder of which bears against the hub g of the crank, while the otherside of said crank-hub rests against the case at the shaft-bearing, asshown in Fig. 1, whereby the shaft may be adjusted to draw it endwisetoward the small end of the case by turning said thumb-screw.

The shaft or rotatory device is provided with moving forcing-libs 71. Asshown, two of these ribs are shorter than the others.

F designates a perforated plate with perforations of any desired form,the perforations in the plate being farther from the axis of the shaftthan the highest points of said moving forcing-ribs, and said plate maybe cast upon or secured in place at the discharge end of the shaft, soas to rotate with it, as shown. The ribs 7b of the forcer and its coreor cen tral portion gradually thicken toward the discharge end. Thegrooves or spaces between the forcing-ribs gradually decrease toward thedischarge end of the case and vanish at the junction of the movingforcing-ribs and perforated plate, while, as before stated, the spacesbetween the stationary forcing-ribs of the case gradually increase inarea as they approach the same point. The inner face of the perforatedplate is true and smooth, and the knives c at the end of the stationaryforcing-ribs are ground to fit the inner face of said perforated plate.This face may be pressed as hard as may be desired against the knives cby turning the adjusting thumbscrew f at the crank end of the shaft. Thebore of the case is cylindrical, and the moving forcing-ribs have theiredges or perimeter formed so as to describe a cylinderthat is to say,they project a given distance from the axis of the shaft for theirentire length-and this perimeter meets the inner face of the perforatedplate at an angle, as shown most clearly in Fig. 4c, the angle,illustrated, bein g a right angle.

Only one side of the perforations in the plate have a cutting action,and that is the side against which the meat is pressed. If

desired, grooves may be formed on the inner face of the perforated platewhich lead to the perforations on. the non-cuttin side, as illustrated,for a part of the perforations by the grooves k in Fig. 4. Upon turningthe crank and shaft the meat is acted upon by the stationary and movingforcing-ribs, the two acting as a forcing mechanism for driving the meattoward the discharge end of the machine. At the same time, as the spacesbetween the moving ribs decrease, the meat is gradually forced fartherfrom the center of the shaft and firmly pressed into the chambersbetween the knives c at the end of the case, portions of the meat alsobeing forced into the perforations in the perforated plate, and as theplate rotates the portions thus entering the perforations in the plateare cut off by the sharp edges of the plate and the knives 0, againstwhich the plate acts. Other portions follow, and the meat is dischargedthrough the perforations in its reduced form substantially the same asin the Adams machine, before named. If large pieces of meat are placedwithin the hopper, they will be disintegrated by the action of thestationary and moving forcing-ribs sufficiently to distribute the meatto the several chambers between the knives c at the end of the case andto cause it to pass readily through the plate.

In Figs. 3 and 5 I have illustrated the knives c as formed integral withthe ring 0; but, if

desired, the knives maybe formed separately and set into said ring, asillustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, or as in Figs. 8 and 9. In the latter formthey are let. flatwise into recesses formed in the face of the ring Oand held in place by a screw or screws, and are made long enough to havetheir ends project beyond the forcingribs, as indicated in Figs. 8 and9, the broken line on in said figures indicating the face of said rib.In this construction the face of the ring is ground true and squareafter the knives are secured thereon, thereby truing that face of theknives. hen the knives become dull, they may be detached and ground atthe ends only and then replaced, the grinding off of the ends notchanging their fit against the inner face of the plate.

I claim as my invention 1. In a meat-cutter having a perforated plateand knives in contact with said plate and a case provided withstationary forcingribs, the rotary forcing device whose ribs and coregradually thicken toward the discharge end, while the spaces between itsforcing-ribs gradually diminish toward the discharge end of the case andsubstantially vanish at their junction with the perforated plate,substan' tially as described, and for the purpose specified.

2. In a meat-cutter having a case, stationary and moving forcing-ribs,and a rotatory perforated plate, a cylindrical flange, a, at thedischarge end of the case, and the separatelyformed ring C, fittedwithin said flange and having the knives c 011 one side of said ring forcontact with the perforated plate, substantially as described, and forthe purpose specified.

3. In a meat-cutter having a case provided with stationary forcing-ribsand knives at the discharge end of said ribs, a forcing device withinthe ribs of the case, and a perforated plate at the end of said forcingdevice whose perforations are outside the greatest diameter of saidforcer, while the inner face of said perforated plate and perimeter ofsaid forcer meet each other atan angle, substantially as described, andfor the purpose specified.

AMOS SHEPARD.

Witnesses:

HA'ITIE L. SHEPARD, STEPHEN WALKLEY.

